The draft master plan for developing the Great Nicobar Island (GNI) under the Centre’s ₹92,000-crore mega-infrastructure project has proposed to focus on tourism as the “primary economic driver” of growth, noting that it also intends to get the “population to settle here”, through both permanent and temporary jobs that are expected to be created.

The plan has been drafted for a projected population of 3.36 lakh by 2055. By that time, the master plan is expected to achieve an annual inflow of more than a million tourists. Of the projected 3.36 lakh, the local Nicobarese population is expected to grow to about 11,500 from the current 7,500.